Humble Rants 25 May 2011

by Robert Skoglund, aka the Humble Farmer

It must be tough to live in a country that has just been defeated by a world war. As you might expect, the country that wins tries to impose its values on the losers. This happened in 1945 when Eisenhower and his victorious allies set up a German constitution that would eliminate what they considered to be the evil elements of fascism. I recently learned this when, after opening the Encyclopedia Britannica at random, I read that in Germany “After World War II [,] the right to organize trade unions and to strike was constitutionally guaranteed.“

This must have changed things around 180 degrees for rich and poor alike in 1945 Germany, because “The Nazis [had] abolished trade unions, collective bargaining and the right to strike. An organization called the ‘Labor Front’ replaced the old trade unions, but it was an instrument of the Nazi party and did not represent workers.”

So I was suddenly awakened to the realization that in 1945 the right to organize trade unions and to strike was one of the basic rights that --- in 1945 --- seemed to be one of the basic differences between a democracy for the people --- and a fascist military-corporate state.

This is such an interesting concept, that I quickly Googled and learned that “Japan [also] has the right to strike enshrined in its Constitution. It was put there after World War 2 as a protection from fascism.”

Ok. We, the victors, wrote constitutions for Germany and Japan to ensure that this military-corporate run type of government called fascism would never again raise its ugly head --- in Germany and Japan. So we’re safe, right?

Well, who would know? We hardly ever hear any talk about fascism nowadays. Although we certainly honor our few remaining venerable veterans and their buddies who died fighting fascism, we’re not even sure of what fascism is.

But --- if you’ve heard anything lately about people going on strike and the official reaction to it, could it be that there are a lot of folks out there who really don’t want you to be able to recognize fascism when you see it?

The humble Farmer

The humble Farmer can be heard Saturdays at 5 on WERU Blue Hill, Sundays at 7 on WRFR in Rockland and Tuesdays at 2 on WMPG Portland.